Rocket launch from Jeff Bezos’ company fails

This image provided by Blue Origin shows a space capsule after a failed launch, parachuting over the Texas desert, on Sept. 12, 2022. (Photo, Blue Origin via AP)

This image provided by Blue Origin shows a space capsule after a failed launch, parachuting over the Texas desert, on Sept. 12, 2022. (Photo, Blue Origin via AP)

AP

Entrepreneur Jeff Bezos’ rocket company had its first failed launch on Monday. No one was on board, just scientific experiments.

The Blue Origin rocket veered off course over West Texas about a minute after liftoff. The pod’s launch abort system activated immediately. Several minutes later, the capsule parachuted down over the desert.

The command center was silent as the capsule catapulted from the rocket, later announcing: “It appears we have experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This was not planned.”

The mishap occurred when the rocket was traveling at almost 1,126 kilometers per hour (700 miles) at an altitude of about 8,500 meters (28,000 feet). The rocket usually lands upright on the desert floor and is then recycled for future flights; but that didn’t happen this time.

Thirty-six experiments were on board, half sponsored by NASA.

“Booster failure in today’s unmanned flight. The exhaust system worked as designed,” the company tweeted.

No further details were provided.

It was the 23rd flight of the New Shepard program, named after the first American in space, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard. The same type of rocket and capsule has been used to carry paying passengers for 10-minute trips to the edge of space. It was the ninth flight of this rocket.

His most recent passenger flight was last month. Bezos, founder and CEO of the Amazon company, was on the first team of New Shepard last summer. In total, Blue Origin, based in Kent, Washington, has taken 31 people to the edge of space.

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Rocket launch from Jeff Bezos’ company fails